Do Your Duty
by Son Rhandi
Summary: Terry the Kid wrestles with his grief after throwing his beach flag run to save a drowning boy and faces his father, Terryman, afterwards.


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**Disclaimer: **Ultimate Muscle: Legends VS New Generation is everything I dreamed it would be. Playing as Scar Face and Hanzou is awesome! You get to play as Crione Man (Hydrozoa) in the GB Advance carnation, Path of the Superhero. I want to buy it, but I don't want to shell out $100 for a GBA. Damn it… I don't own Ultimate Muscle, in the copyright sense.

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Do Your Duty 

**By Son Rhandi**

The ocean always stank to him. He preferred the sweltering air of the desert, one that stung the nostrils to take in. He gave his legs a good stretch in preparation for the beach flag run about to commence. Jade was conversing with his Blocken, Jr., then there as that other guy (whose name he didn't care to remember), he was over with his coaches, as far as he could tell. He felt sort of isolated, that young man from Texas, having no one to be at his side…

Terry looked about the bleachers on the sandy beach. So many faces… He could hear his supporters cheering his name, familiar banners of red, white, and blue flying proudly, the name 'Kid' being shouted to the sky, an old man in a flannel shirt and cowboy hat… He did a double take. Was that his father he saw? _……No. No one there… _The Texan scoffed. _Of course, **he** wouldn't be here._ He was never there for anything, it seemed, that Terryman. Taking off to be with Kinniku Suguru was always far more important than spending time with his son like other dads would, so why would he show up now?

"Che. Like it matters…" He spat.

His heart pounded, he could feel it beating violently in his chest, thumping loudly in his ears. Jade was close behind him, he knew, but he was far ahead enough to grasp victory. His father would have to stand up and take notice if he won. That Kid, he saw it once in an old photo: Kinnikuman wearing the Championship Belt of the Chôjin Olympics and Terryman standing behind him, applauding. Could he make his father as proud of him as he was of old Suguru?

"Help!"

_Huh..? _Terry turned his head to the ocean. In the distance, he could see something thrashing wildly in the 

water.

"Someone, help!"

_Oh, no…_ thought the Kid. _That little boy is drownin'..! Where's the lifeguard?_

Everyone was too busy watching the race to notice the child was in serious danger, included the lifeguard. Was he the only one who saw? Such a dilemma… To continue the race would mean to risk the child's life. But to rescue him would cost him the race. Terry wrestled with the decision as fiercely as he had with Rex King. This was the tournament every wrestler dreamed of, and this wasn't just so he could win some sweaty belt, this was to show his father that… that… that he could make him proud!

He looked to the sea again. The little boy's head was now under the water…

Brokenhearted, Terry took off to the water, leaving Jade to win the race.

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Terrible. Simply terrible… He had done the right thing, hadn't he? Then why this feeling of total devastation? Terry clenched his fist. Had he lost in a flat run, it wouldn't have been so bad. If only it weren't for that kid and his irresponsible mother… Terry let out a sigh. There was no use in getting angry. He could never compete with Kinniku Suguru in the matter of his father's pride. He would never see that smile like the one in the picture, that smile of the purest happiness in the achievements of another. Worst of all, that same smile would never be for him. He walked through that corridor alone, ready to head back to HQ.

"You done well, Kid."

The young man's heart skipped a beat._ Oh, no… Oh, God, no… Why now..?_ Terryman had been there, after all, and he saw the whole thing. The Kid wanted to cry right then and there. What did he think of him? What would he say? Terryman wrapped his jacket around his son's shoulders.

"Listen up, boy. I'd o' been real happy if you won th' race, but partner, that kind o' joy don't near come close t' what I saw out there just a few minutes back. You done saved a life, Kid, an' that's what bein' a Justice Chôjin's all about. You showed me that you understood that today, when you threw yer race t' rescue that youngun." The old man threw his arm around the Kid's shoulders. "I couldn't be more proud o' you, boy, an' that's the truth."

Terry felt his eyes welling up. This… It wasn't supposed to be this way. This feeling, it couldn't even compare to the sadness of being overshadowed by his father, the Legend, nor to the one of always watching his father go off to be with Kinnikuman. He had put the need of others ahead of his wants, and that was the duty of a Justice Chôjin. That was the reality of it, albeit a sad one. His deed was a noble one, even his old man seemed to think so. Why, then, why couldn't he believe his father's words..? 

He looked into his father's eyes, shimmering with sincerity. His wrinkled face molded itself to form a wide, warm smile. Not the one he bore for Suguru all those decades ago, but one of fatherly love and pride. Terry lowered his head and let the tears flow, though not tears of sorrow. Rather, they were tears of joy, the kind one sheds in feelings of immense relief. He was finally free of those hateful, jealous emotions held to the old Legend, Kinnikuman. The honest look of happiness on his father's face was enough to release him from their burden.

Terryman just kept on smiling through his little boy's tears. He understood his son's pain quite well. Even if one risked life or love, he had to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Yes, that was the sad reality of being a Justice Chôjin. Even so, he'd be there to help his son deal with the sadness of it, if nothing else. 


End file.
